Body, subjectivity and limit-experience: considerations about subject and body in Foucault's thought

Keywords in English

Body
ethics
Foucault
Michel
subjectivity

Abstract in English

Althouth the body is not one of the central concepts of Foucault's thought, it is still present in many moments of his work. From the archeology to ethical studies, it´s possible to realize that the body has different meanings, but generally operates in the interstices between materiality and history. By analyzing the historical constitution of sexuality, Foucault formulates the notion of biopower to refer to a type of power that is exerted on the bodies and the population in general. For the philosopher, the development of biopower and its techniques are a revolution in human history, because from them, life becomes invaded and controlled by power. Against this form of power that operates on life, the body emerges as a vital force capable of resisting and integrating its multiple instances of action. Until the 70´s, this resistance appears in Foucault's thougth in a negatively way, as the power replication, from the studies developed by Foucault in the 80´s (ethics studies), it comes to be seen positively. This change in perspective is directly related to how subjectivity is formulated in ethical studies. One of the differences from an ethical point compared to previous ones is that it subjectivity becomes understood not only from the instances of knowledge-power, but also from a historical movement of the subject itself. Therefore, we must understand how body and subject are covered in Foucault's thought, by analyzing texts from its canonical triad (archeology, genealogy and ethics), as some non-canonical texts produced throughout his life. Then, there is a second movement of the research, to question about the possibility of understanding the body from the concept of limit-experience, which is handled by Foucault in some texts of the 60´s and 70´s, and that can be understood as an experience able to raise the difference through the separation of the subject from itself.

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